Tuutikki Tolonen is the author of several acclaimed children’s books, plays and academic articles. For Monster Nanny she received the Arvid Lydecken award. She teaches creative writing and has worked as an editor and reporter at Vinski, Finland’s only literary journal for children. Her inspiration for the Monster Nanny duology sparked during a family breakfast. “My son Leo, then six, said: ‘I heard on the radio yesterday that all moms have to go on vacation and monsters will take their places,” she says.

“Tuutikki Tolonen’s Monster Nanny is an original, fresh and skilfully constructed novel, which appeals seamlessly to both juvenile and adult readers. The characters are easy to identify with, the narration flows freely, and the mystery of the monsters soon has the reader hooked. Woven through the thrilling and good-natured adventure run the themes of friendship and understanding diversity. The book is suitable both for reading aloud, a desk book at school, and for devouring at the library or at home in one’s favorite reading nook. Monster Nanny has all the ingredients of a beloved children’s classic.”